Bread is a staff of life

Alvard Gabrielyan from Askeran has been engaged in bread production for more than 20 years and does not hide a strong feeling of love and devotion when she supplies daily bread to the residents of her hometown. The love and devotion were even more emphasized during difficult times for her Motherland.

During the tragic days of 2020, the bakery did not stop working even under bombing.

Now the situation is also critical, they are working under pressure, adapting to rolling blackouts, so that residents of Askeran and neighbouring settlements do not have problems with bread.

“If necessary, I knead the dough by hand to make it in time. What should we do? These are difficult times; we should not complain. If each person does what depends on them, we will be able to achieve something,” Alvard said.

The blockade that followed the 44-day war in 2020 did not break Alvard Gabrielyan, who is full of willpower and perseverance.

“Usually we used 6 bags of flour, now 9 bags are already not enough. There are a lot of additional problems with baking bread (salt, oil, yeast, fuel), which I can hardly solve yet. If this continues, we will find ourselves in a catastrophic situation.”

Currently, the bakery employs 6 people, and Alvard, along with other employees, works until the last bread is baked. In the town itself, bread is often delivered to stores by hand. With all these worries, the woman manages to work in the garden and take up beekeeping.

“I am worried about rural settlements. Having overcome many obstacles, we can still deliver bread to Ivanyan, Noragyuh and Sardarashen. However, it has been two days since we have delivered bread to Vardadzor and Nakhichevanik with a delay. I don’t want to think about what will happen when the entire fuel supply runs out. Despite everything, I continue to be optimistic and live for the sake of our joint struggle, since I consider all conversations aimed at our integration into an enemy state unacceptable,” Alvard said.